Alabama

Spring football mania...

After almost every season, reporters (such as myself) write season wrap-up stories. Obits, they are called. As spring football has really become a season unto itself, the Birmingham News did a similar story on that season in today's paper, albeit from a national perspective.

Alabama, of course, is second in 2008 with 78,200, just behind Nebraska's 80,149. You know what's crazy? The Cornhuskers made $820,000 from their game. That's almost a million dollars, if you're scoring at home.

Yet the Crimson Tide doesn't charge.

That's because AD Mal Moore wants it to be an opportunity for fans who can't get off the 7,000 or so season ticket waiting list to come to see a (kinda) game. Who is right? Is it more helpful for the university to have the money or to have the goodwill created by letting fans in for free?
I'm not sure. Auburn made its decision, charging five bucks and getting a crowd of 35,000. Alabama made its choice, too, coming down on the other side. A couple other interesting numbers:

The national average for spring games was 12,703. The SEC, meanwhile, led the way among the conferences with an average of 31,111. That's more than 46 D-I teams averaged last season.